


A Belated April Fool's

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-04-04
Updated: 2006-04-04
Packaged: 2019-01-19 13:55:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12411609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: After the Marauder's conspiciously fail to pull off an April Fool's Day prank, Lily steps in and forces James' hand.short and sweet and rather fluffy.





	A Belated April Fool's

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

**A/N:**  I had a moment of inspiration due to a conversation i had with a friend.  This is the result.  Read/Review 

         

   On April 1, Hogwarts had been in a state of extreme caution.  First years walked in packs, Slytherins spent most of the day looking over their shoulders, and even the ghosts had been mysteriously absent.

But the day was silent.

            On April 2, people simply assumed there had been a mistake.  For never in the memory of any person at Hogwarts had an April Fools Day gone by without at least a lewd joke from the Marauders.  And so, in a heightened state of alarm, Hogwarts continued to take security measures.

            When Severus Snape showed up to the Great Hall on April 3 without even so much as a greasy hair out of place, people began to breathe easier.  Especially when the realization soon came that the Marauders, everyone’s favorite troublemakers, were not speaking to one another.

            And while as a prefect, Lily Evans appreciated the lack of an April Fool’s prank, as a Gryffindor sixth year, she simply could not stand for this.

            Since their first April Fools Day, the Marauders had never disappointed.  The prank was always lavish, extravagant, over-the-top, and humiliating to the Slytherins.  First years cried, McGonagall would curse, and Peeves would applaud.

            It was tradition.

            And that damned Potter would not mess with tradition.

            It was at that time in their lives when things were not as they always had been.  Of course, the incident is well known; there’s no need to rehash it.  Sirius had attempted perhaps the cruelest prank to date on Snape, betraying Remus, and overall appealing to James’ heroic nature.

            The effect was much simpler than that: the brotherhood had been broken.  James was not speaking to Sirius, who was in turn not speaking to James.  Remus was furious with the pair of them, which left both of them begging to get back in his good books.  And Peter found himself the most popular within the Marauders for the first time in his life, as he was the only one not at odds with any of them.

            To an insider, it made perfect sense as to why the April Fool’s prank had not occurred.

            The problem remained that no one, excluding Snape and Dumbledore, had any idea as to why the Marauders where engaged in their own Cold War.

            And seeing as Lily Evans was not an insider, in her mind, she was perfectly justified to bang on the Marauder’s dormitory at one o’clock in the morning on April 4.

            **Boom.  Boom.  Boom.**

            “James Potter, I know you’re in there.  Open this door right now!”  She screeched.  

            It really was a perfectly puzzling situation.  Lily had always been quite clear on her general hatred of James.  In her right mind, she’d never bang on his door in the middle of the night.  Her action alone spoke a thousand words about the gravity of the situation.

            “What in the bloody hell-“a bleary eyed James Potter grumbled, opening the door to reveal the angriest looking red head he had ever seen in his life.

            “Let me in your dormitory right now,” Lily said viciously, pushing past him into the pitch-black dorm.

            “I knew you’d come around eventually, Evans,” James said cheekily, patting Lily on the arm as she shut and magically locked the door.  “My charm is just too much for one woman to resist.  Now I promise I’ll try to be gentle, but if you start taking charge like you tend to-“

            “Potter, you are such a prick.  Don’t touch me.  And where in Merlin’s name are your roommates?”  Lily said crossly, after lighting a candle and revealing that the only inhabitant of the sixth year boy’s dormitory was James himself.

            “They’re, well, you see Remus is, ill...yeah, he’s real sick.  And Pete’s with him and Sirius is with his brother?”  James squeaked, looking thoroughly uncomfortable for the first time in the six years Lily had known him.

            “You have no idea, do you?”

            James smiled sheepishly, rubbing his temple.  Lily looked closer, seeing the deep circles under his eyes.  He was exhausted.

            “We’re in a fight.”

            “I gathered as much.”

            “Is that why you’re here?  To make me feel better?  Because all of this talk isn’t doing so much for me.  I’m a man of action, you see and-“

            Lily cut him off by hitting him upside the head.

            “I want a prank, James.  A traditional, elaborate, humiliating, Marauder prank.  April 1 was three days ago.  Do you know that Snape’s hair has remained suspiciously normal colored?  Not even a speck of green or pink and-“

            “Lily, I can’t fix this with a prank.  Big loyalties were broken and I can’t fix it.”

            Lily sent him a calculating look, raising an eyebrow.

            “I though you were a man of action, James.”

            He didn’t respond.  He simply stared at her, watching as she swept a piece of hair out of his eyes, and slowly walking out of his room and closing his door, leaving him once again in solitude.

            “Man of action,” he muttered.  “Brilliant Potter, bloody brilliant.”

            What occurred in the next four days remains a mystery to all but the Marauders.  But without fail, on April 8, a gasp of shock was released from the Great Hall as Snape entered with pink hair, complete with footy-pajamas and bunny ears.

            And while it certainly was their most brilliant prank, it was the proudest moment in the Marauder’s young lives.

            And as Messieurs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs took a humble bow to the roaring cheers of Gryffindors, Lily Evans didn’t fail to notice the wink James Potter sent her.

            And in that moment, she began to realize that she rather liked men of action.

 


End file.
